Hyperspectral Imaging for Estimating Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize Hybrids

Monica Britt Olson, Purdue University

Abstract

Increasing the capability of maize hybrids to use nitrogen (N) more efficiently is a common goal that contributes to reducing farmer costs and limiting negative environmental impacts. However, development of such hybrids is costly and arduous due to the repeated need for laborious field and laboratory measurements of whole-plant biomass and N uptake in large early-stage breeding programs. This research evaluated alternative in-season methodologies, including field-based physiological measurements and hyperspectral remote imagery, as surrogate or predictive measures of important end-of-season N efficiency parameters.Differences in the genetic potential of 285 hybrids (derived from test crosses to a single tester) with respect to N Internal Efficiency (NIE, grain yield per unit of accumulated plant N) were investigated at two Indiana locations in 2015. The hybrids (representing both early and late maturity groups) were grown at one low N rate and a single plant density. Germplasm sources included USDA, Dow AgroSciences, and “control” checks. Various secondary traits (plant height, stalk diameter, LAI, green leaf counts, and SPAD measurements) were evaluated for their potential role as surrogate measurements for N metrics at maturity (R6) such as plant N content or NIE. Four band (RGB, NIR) multispectral airborne remote sensing imagery at R1 and R3/R4 was also collected. The key findings were: 1) identification of the 10 highest and 10 lowest ranked hybrids for each maturity group in both grain yield and NIE categories, 2) the discovery of 5 top performing hybrids which had both high NIE and high yield, 3) strong correlations of leaf SPAD (at R1 and R2/R3) to grain yield or plant N at R6, 4) none of the surrogate measurements were significantly correlated to NIE, and 5) vegetation indices (NDVI and SR) from the remote imaging were not predictive of hybrid differences in yields or whole plant N content at R6. From these results we concluded genetic potential exists among current maize germplasm for NIE breeding improvements, but that more in-depth investigations were needed into other surrogate measures of relevant N efficiency traits in hybrid comparisons.Next, hyperspectral imaging was investigated as a potential predictor of agronomic parameters related to N Use Efficiency (NUE, understood here as grain yield relative to applied N fertilizer input). Hyperspectral vegetation indices (HSI) were used to extract the image features for predicting N concentration (whole plant N at R6, %N), Nitrogen Conversion Efficiency (biomass per unit of plant N at R6, NCE), and NIE. Images were collected at V16/V18 and R1/R2 by manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at 50 cm spatial resolution. Nine maize hybrids, or a subset, were grown under N stress conditions with two plant densities over three site years in either 2014 or 2017. Forty HSI-based mixed models were analyzed for their predictability relative to the ground reference values of %N, NCE, and NIE. Two biomass and structural indices (HBSI1682,855 and HBSI2682,910 at R1) were predictive of NCE values and capably differentiated the highest and lowest ranked NCE hybrids. The highest prediction accuracy for NIE was achieved by two biochemical indices (HBCI8515,550 at both V16 and R1, and HBCI9490,550at R1). These also allowed for hybrid differentiation of the highest and lowest ranked NIE hybrids. From these results, we concluded that accurate end-season prediction of hybrid differences in NCE and NIE was possible from mid-season hyperspectral imaging (yet not for %N). Furthermore, the quality of the predictions was dependent on image timing, actual HSI, and the targeted N parameter at maturity.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Vyn, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Remote sensing|Physiology|Aerospace engineering|Plant sciences|Robotics|Soil sciences|Transportation

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